Identidades en la línea. Maquiladoras y figuras de la femineidad en la frontera norte de México

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a socio-cultural intepretation of the industrialization of maquiladoras on Mexico’s northern border and its consequences. It seeks to explain the construction of a productive subject through a series of accounts of femininity and masculinity circulating in work places. It is based on the assumption that gender identities are changing rather than fixed, subject to interpretation rather than intelligible and constructed by the actors themselves rather than being socially given. The author thereby attempts to show that globalization is subject to dispute and conflict by local actors.